Hillsborough: The slow road to justice

This afternoon the home affairs select committee heard from David Crompton, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police.

During his questioning Crompton described how he estimated that there are approximately one hundred current police officers who served on the ground on the day and a further six/seven hundred ex-officers from South Yorkshire.

Crompton discussed the need for instant archiving when it comes to disasters. He believes that a significant amount of time and effort was needed to bring in the relevant documentation as there was no such system in existence at the time of the disaster.

This was described as one of the many lessons that needed to be learnt from the disaster. Crompton also described how the IPCC is much more powerful than the previous incarnation around in 1989.

The Attorney General has made it clear that he will apply to the high court in order to get verdicts of accidental death quashed in wake of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report.

These developments come after the weekend’s revelation that up to 58 of the 96 could have been saved.

There is a vast review of police conduct coming and more developments to come, but the slow progress toward justice is finally underway.

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